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WOW I wish more knew this TODAY!

by seasoned
8 replies
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I have mentioned this before, and never knew APPLE had a video not only mentioning it, but stating why, and proving it:


ALL TOO MANY "technicians" today create ESD.and damage circuits.

Steve
  • Profile picture of the author Cam Connor
    Gotta love the Wonderful Wizard of Woz! Thanks for sharing
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  • Profile picture of the author Cam Connor
    Sorry, double post.
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  • Profile picture of the author HeySal
    Wow, Steve - I would have thought in your line that you'd have known about ESD. I used to work in a clean room where we put the layers of boards together to make the computer boards, and also did semi-conductor testing. We had all sorts of ESD protection - wrist band grounding, special mats, etc. All computer manufacturing plants are quite attentive about ESD.
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    Sal
    When the Roads and Paths end, learn to guide yourself through the wilderness
    Beyond the Path

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    • Profile picture of the author seasoned
      Originally Posted by HeySal View Post

      Wow, Steve - I would have thought in your line that you'd have known about ESD. I used to work in a clean room where we put the layers of boards together to make the computer boards, and also did semi-conductor testing. We had all sorts of ESD protection - wrist band grounding, special mats, etc. All computer manufacturing plants are quite attentive about ESD.
      I knew about it when I was like 6 or 7 years old! I have simply known TOO many people that freely handled memory and boards that DIDN'T! I complained about Fryes Electronics saying that OEM memory is simply BAD memory. And I have said that that is BULL! OEM memory is pakced in bulk, and when fryes repacks it, they just don't watch ESD.

      So YEAH, I knew this. I just wish MORE people did, and thought this did an EXCELLENT job of proving it, etc...

      HECK! In highschool I was told to do a term paper, and mine was on COSMOS! I had enough books on it, I didn't even have to go to the library!

      BTW I ALWAYS reach for a ground before I deal with electronics, and use ESD safe materials for storage.

      Steve
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  • Profile picture of the author garyv
    I worked system analytics for Motorola for several years. The cell phones were created on a very long assembly line process. If we started getting phones at the end of the line that didn't work right, I was responsible for finding which machine in the long assembly line process was responsible for the failure. Which meant trouble shooting the phone down to the component level.

    There was one week in particular where we had a huge number of failing phones. I was trouble-shooting the phones and the failures were happening in different parts of the phone each time. - This assembly line at the time pumped out millions of dollars worth of phones every day, and after several days of failures there were engineers from several countries breathing down my neck for an answer.

    Finally out of desperation I went up and down the line following the entire procedure - and found that the one time that the electronic board is touched by human hands, that the girl there didn't have any static protection on. Usually just to get into this area you have to have on a special jacket, and special straps for your wrist and shoes. This girl had none of it. I wasn't sure right away if that was the cause - but we took her off of the line and the problems immediately went away. Needless to say that error in her judgement cost Motorola millions of dollars, and her a very well paid job.
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    • Profile picture of the author HeySal
      Originally Posted by garyv View Post

      I worked system analytics for Motorola for several years. The cell phones were created on a very long assembly line process. If we started getting phones at the end of the line that didn't work right, I was responsible for finding which machine in the long assembly line process was responsible for the failure. Which meant trouble shooting the phone down to the component level.

      There was one week in particular where we had a huge number of failing phones. I was trouble-shooting the phones and the failures were happening in different parts of the phone each time. - This assembly line at the time pumped out millions of dollars worth of phones every day, and after several days of failures there were engineers from several countries breathing down my neck for an answer.

      Finally out of desperation I went up and down the line following the entire procedure - and found that the one time that the electronic board is touched by human hands, that the girl there didn't have any static protection on. Usually just to get into this area you have to have on a special jacket, and special straps for your wrist and shoes. This girl had none of it. I wasn't sure right away if that was the cause - but we took her off of the line and the problems immediately went away. Needless to say that error in her judgement cost Motorola millions of dollars, and her a very well paid job.
      I'm surprised that everyone working there wasn't given ESD training before even being allowed to start a job, even if they're not working in a clean room situation. I worked for 2 different electronics companies, and even the office personnel that rarely even walked into the plant had to have ESD training.
      Signature

      Sal
      When the Roads and Paths end, learn to guide yourself through the wilderness
      Beyond the Path

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      • Profile picture of the author garyv
        Originally Posted by HeySal View Post

        I'm surprised that everyone working there wasn't given ESD training before even being allowed to start a job, even if they're not working in a clean room situation. I worked for 2 different electronics companies, and even the office personnel that rarely even walked into the plant had to have ESD training.
        Oh they were. Thus the prompt firing when they found her without it.
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  • Profile picture of the author seasoned
    Garyv,

    I heard of a similar deal with TAPES going bad. They eventually tracked it to them rubbing against stockings by the women asked to mount the tapes! SORRY that sounds sexist, but in THAT day a lot of people had secretaries and the like, wh were often women, and mounting tapes may have been as common as getting coffee.

    I heard of ANOTHER story where chips kept changing content, and it was tracked to material they got from mexico for the ceramic on the chips. It turned out being slightly radioactive, which interfered with the memory. Yeah, we TAKE SO much for granted today.

    They used to make such chips from ceramic because it had better thermal characteristics, and was better overall. It started losing favor because it raised the cost an average of $1 a chip. Considering that most chips cost less than $1 for plastic, $1 extra was a lot.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Semico...kage_materials

    BTW the only ones I saw packed in glass were UV erasable ROM. They were like the earliest form of FLASH memory, and once programmed, they STAYED that way. Exposure to UV radiation, through that window, would erase the chip, and make it flashable again. Even some big companies used that and still may today, and they put their label over the window effectively as a write protect measure. And most ceramic chips didn't have any metal cover.

    Steve
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